We won't get fooled again
As Gordon Brown was grinning his way into Downing Street quoting his old school motto, I was thinking about The Who playing through the rain and mud of Glastonbury last weekend.
The Who may be famous for other songs as well but “Won’t Get Fooled Again” is a classic.
And as you absorb the hype surrounding this “new era” for British politics, the old “New Labour” anthem “Things Can Only Get Better” is hardly appropriate.
We are told by the Prime Minister himself and by all the hype, the retirements and the reshuffles that everything has changed.
We’re assured Mr Brown is a new man now he has fulfilled his lifelong ambition of stabbing Tony Blair in the back, hounding him from office and walking into Number Ten without all that wearisome bother of any election.
We are led to believe that this week marks a clean break, to the extent that Tony Blair is leaving Parliament to become the Austin Powers of world politics.
He’s to be an International Man of Mystery, the mystery being how the man who led us into war in Iraq can hope to bring peace to the Middle East.
The media loves change. We grew tired of Cherie long ago. Her parting “Goodbye, I don’t think we’ll miss you” to the assembled hacks shows how the relationship deteriorated.
Now we’ve got the fragrant Sarah instead. As well as thin Harriet Harperson instead of thick John Prescott. Plus a new Cabinet.
All these new faces. All this new gossip. For the media, a change is as good as a rest. And as Gordon walked into Number Ten he declared: “And now let the work of change begin.”
Begin? Begin? What’s he been doing for the last ten years?
As The Who say: “The world looks just the same and history ain't changed… There's nothing in the street looks any different to me…”
This isn’t a new Government. It's always been Brown. Tony Blair was only ever his front-man. Everyone knows that
As Chancellor, Gordon Brown was such a control freak he wouldn’t let any other Minister or Government department spend money without his say-so.
He poured billions into the National Health Service but never bothered to ask if it was money well-spent.
He pumped cash into schools only to discover he had to rob students to pay for it, that he had failed to offer parents any choice and that A-levels had been devalued.
It was Mr Brown who robbed pensioners of £8 billion a year to pay for it all. It was Mr Brown who deprived our armed forces of the manpower and equipment needed for all those wars he agreed they should go off and fight. It was Mr Brown who slashed spending on boring old flood defences.
And let's not forget that when people complain about prisoners being given their "Get out of jail free" cards; or we fear rising crime; or we see the difficulties caused by uncontrolled illegal immigration, this is all the result of Gordon Brown's ambition.
During the Blair years, the most likely rivals to Gordon Brown all held the office of Home Secretary. To see off his potential challengers Jack Straw, David Blunkett, Charles Clark and "Doctor" John Reid, Mr Brown made their lives as difficult as possible.
He wouldn’t let them have the money to spend on immigration officers, new prisons or more policmen.
Running the Home Office is a thankless task and successive Home Secretaries had to contend with Gordon Brown plotting to kill off their chances of succeeding Tony Blair.
As he sat there like the fat spider of the Treasury, he wove his webs through every Government department. He reserved special venom for anyone who could be seen as a threat. They all became enmeshed in the Home Office. He devoured them, one by one.
It is not unfair to say Gordon Brown’s personal ambition to become Prime Minister is responsible for the 600,000 or so immigrants illegally entering Britain every year. It’s his fault there aren’t enough jails to handle all the criminals being sent to them.
It’s his fault crime is still on the rise – just as it’s his fault the official statistics show crime is falling when our own experiences give the lie to such claims.
Mr Brown only admits responsibility for the economy and, despite his 111 stealth taxes, it has to be said that most people have done quite nicely over the past decade.
Now even that party is coming to an end. Mr Brown surfs into Downing Street on a tide of Champagne bought with big City bonuses, Russian mafia roubles, tax rates of 10 per cent for the super-rich and personal debt totalling £1.3 trillion.
One nasty jolt and that whole debt-financed house of cards will come tumbling down.
Meanwhile we are promised change, a new direction, a fresh vision. But scratch the surface and it’s the same old Government though with a slightly more pronounced Scottish accent.
Or as “Won’t Get Fooled Again” concludes, after the longest, greatest agonised scream in rock: “Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”
The Who may be famous for other songs as well but “Won’t Get Fooled Again” is a classic.
And as you absorb the hype surrounding this “new era” for British politics, the old “New Labour” anthem “Things Can Only Get Better” is hardly appropriate.
We are told by the Prime Minister himself and by all the hype, the retirements and the reshuffles that everything has changed.
We’re assured Mr Brown is a new man now he has fulfilled his lifelong ambition of stabbing Tony Blair in the back, hounding him from office and walking into Number Ten without all that wearisome bother of any election.
We are led to believe that this week marks a clean break, to the extent that Tony Blair is leaving Parliament to become the Austin Powers of world politics.
He’s to be an International Man of Mystery, the mystery being how the man who led us into war in Iraq can hope to bring peace to the Middle East.
The media loves change. We grew tired of Cherie long ago. Her parting “Goodbye, I don’t think we’ll miss you” to the assembled hacks shows how the relationship deteriorated.
Now we’ve got the fragrant Sarah instead. As well as thin Harriet Harperson instead of thick John Prescott. Plus a new Cabinet.
All these new faces. All this new gossip. For the media, a change is as good as a rest. And as Gordon walked into Number Ten he declared: “And now let the work of change begin.”
Begin? Begin? What’s he been doing for the last ten years?
As The Who say: “The world looks just the same and history ain't changed… There's nothing in the street looks any different to me…”
This isn’t a new Government. It's always been Brown. Tony Blair was only ever his front-man. Everyone knows that
As Chancellor, Gordon Brown was such a control freak he wouldn’t let any other Minister or Government department spend money without his say-so.
He poured billions into the National Health Service but never bothered to ask if it was money well-spent.
He pumped cash into schools only to discover he had to rob students to pay for it, that he had failed to offer parents any choice and that A-levels had been devalued.
It was Mr Brown who robbed pensioners of £8 billion a year to pay for it all. It was Mr Brown who deprived our armed forces of the manpower and equipment needed for all those wars he agreed they should go off and fight. It was Mr Brown who slashed spending on boring old flood defences.
And let's not forget that when people complain about prisoners being given their "Get out of jail free" cards; or we fear rising crime; or we see the difficulties caused by uncontrolled illegal immigration, this is all the result of Gordon Brown's ambition.
During the Blair years, the most likely rivals to Gordon Brown all held the office of Home Secretary. To see off his potential challengers Jack Straw, David Blunkett, Charles Clark and "Doctor" John Reid, Mr Brown made their lives as difficult as possible.
He wouldn’t let them have the money to spend on immigration officers, new prisons or more policmen.
Running the Home Office is a thankless task and successive Home Secretaries had to contend with Gordon Brown plotting to kill off their chances of succeeding Tony Blair.
As he sat there like the fat spider of the Treasury, he wove his webs through every Government department. He reserved special venom for anyone who could be seen as a threat. They all became enmeshed in the Home Office. He devoured them, one by one.
It is not unfair to say Gordon Brown’s personal ambition to become Prime Minister is responsible for the 600,000 or so immigrants illegally entering Britain every year. It’s his fault there aren’t enough jails to handle all the criminals being sent to them.
It’s his fault crime is still on the rise – just as it’s his fault the official statistics show crime is falling when our own experiences give the lie to such claims.
Mr Brown only admits responsibility for the economy and, despite his 111 stealth taxes, it has to be said that most people have done quite nicely over the past decade.
Now even that party is coming to an end. Mr Brown surfs into Downing Street on a tide of Champagne bought with big City bonuses, Russian mafia roubles, tax rates of 10 per cent for the super-rich and personal debt totalling £1.3 trillion.
One nasty jolt and that whole debt-financed house of cards will come tumbling down.
Meanwhile we are promised change, a new direction, a fresh vision. But scratch the surface and it’s the same old Government though with a slightly more pronounced Scottish accent.
Or as “Won’t Get Fooled Again” concludes, after the longest, greatest agonised scream in rock: “Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”
posted by nigel hastilow at 9:00 AM
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